European Parliament outlines plans for an EU-wide digital wallet
The use of the EU wallet will “always be voluntary”, MEPs say.
News
BNPL fintech Affirm lays off 19% of workforce, nixes crypto offering
The company intends to double down on its core business while “sunsetting” initiatives including Affirm Crypto.
Singapore’s Tazapay bags $16.9m in Series A funding round
The round brings Tazapay’s total capital raised to $18.9 million.
Carbonplace lands $45m seed funding, names new CEO
With the new funding, Carbonplace plans to scale its platform, expand its team and forge partnerships.
FNZ to acquire Luxembourg-based B2B fund platform Ifsam
FNZ says the acquisition will strengthen its client proposition and build out its presence in Luxembourg.
SME lender Merchant Money scores £115m in funding
The funding will grow Merchant Money’s lending books across its secured and unsecured product offerings.
Bank of England and HM Treasury outline case for digital pound
The Bank and HM Treasury plan to “accelerate” work on the technology and policy architecture for a digital pound.
Nokia aligns growth and financing strategy with ESG targets
The firm is aiming to maintain its growth in data traffic while reducing its energy consumption.
The Bank of London bags $40m in Series C extension
The round was co-led by Mangrove Capital Partners and 14W Venture Capital.
Canada’s Jobber secures $100m in Series D funding round
Jobber’s SaaS solution enables small businesses to accept credit card payments and send invoices.
Inter&Co acquires real estate investment start-up YellowFi
Inter&Co provides financial services through its ‘super-app’ to more than 25 million users.
Arab Bank Switzerland taps InvestGlass for digital onboarding solution
Arab Bank says the solution will boost client experience while maintaining high levels of security.
Pipe Technologies appoints Luke Voiles as its new CEO
Voiles joins Pipe from Square, where he served as general manager of Square Banking.
CFPB proposes new rule to curb excessive credit card late fees
According to CFPB estimates, excessive fees cost American families about $12 billion each year.
Target Group names Katherine Bowen as new CFO
Bowen joined Target Group nearly five years ago as a finance business partner.
Standard Chartered Bank names new group chief transformation officer
Divyesh Vithlani brings more than 30 years’ worth of banking and technology experience to his new role.
Aussie BNPL fintech Openpay enters receivership
The firm’s assets, operations and trading activities are now under the stewardship of McGrathNicol.
Crypto exchange Binance snaps up majority stake in South Korea’s Gopax
The investment is part of Binance’s ‘Industry Recovery Initiative’ (IRI), launched in 2022.
Lloyds Banking Group appoints Martyn Atkinson as CIO, consumer relationships & mass affluent
Atkinson moves from merchant bank Close Brothers, where he was COO for four years.
Virtual card paytech Conferma Pay names Jason Lalor as CEO
Lalor most recently served as CEO of Square’s European business.
Banking Technology Magazine February 2023 issue out now
Cover story: HAPPY DAZE – Banking for cannabis businesses boosted.
Digital financial crime platform Themis names Matthew Hurn as chairman
Hurn has been a Themis investor and board member since June 2020.
Fraud prevention platform Seon acquires AML firm Complytron
Thanks to the acquisiton, Seon will be able to offer “a vital single source” to fight fraud holistically.
UK’s Shawbrook Bank taps Cashflows to streamline payments
Cashflows will enable Shawbrook to process its e-commerce business finance collections through a virtual terminal.
Bank of Nevis International taps Tookitaki for AML tech
The Caribbean bank will deploy Tookitaki’s Anti-Money Laundering Suite (AMLS).
US neobank Oxygen bags $20m Series B, appoints new CEO
Former Sber CTO David Rafalovsky joins Oxygen as CEO, replacing founder Hussein Ahmed.
Mizuho Bank in core banking tech overhaul with Oracle
Oracle’s solutions will support “critical” functions, including direct deposit accounts and liquidity management.
South Africa to pilot national rapid payments programme this year
The national payment system forms part of South Africa’s Vision 2025 programme.
European Central Bank to stress test 99 eurozone banks in 2023
The testing forms part of the 2023 EU-wide stress test coordinated by the European Banking Authority.
Zodia partners SBI DAH for Japan-based crypto custodian venture
The joint venture, SBI Zodia Custody, is owned 51% by SBI DAH and 49% by Zodia Custody.
US fintech Stash appoints Liza Landsman as new CEO
Prior to joining Stash, Landsman served as general partner at NEA, a global venture capital firm.
Detected names Mike Ainslie chief financial officer
Ainslie brings a “wealth of experience” within the financial and operations industry, Detected says.
Cartoon: Tarred with the same brush
This cartoon illustrates how the collapse of the speculative crypto market has impacted the blockchain sector.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Stubben Edge, Elementaryb and Bud
A handy round-up of the recent funding endeavours of fintech companies across the globe.
FIS reportedly axes 2,600 jobs amid ongoing strategic review
Bloomberg reports the cuts have taken place over the past few weeks.
FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 3 February 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
BBVA migrates its investment banking platform to the cloud with AWS
BBVA says the AWS platform “provides greater computing power” to make financial market-related calculations.
More banking hubs and pods earmarked for UK as branch closures continue
A further nine banking hubs and six deposit services have been recommended by Link.
GXS Bank names Muthukrishnan Ramaswami as group CEO
Ramaswami most recently spent 12 years as president of the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
Hong Kong’s ZA Bank names Ronald Iu as CEO
Iu served as chief risk officer (CRO) of ZA Bank, a role he will step down from immediately.
